All This New Restaurant Technology Should & Shouldn’t Scare You [Infographic]

I remember my first point of sales (POS) installation experience like it was a nightmare from last night. It was Valentine’s Day when it was finally installed — the only day our vendor had available for months. I was impetuous back then and implemented this new restaurant technology immediately…

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You can imagine the scene. Servers all needing help ringing in orders, bartenders not understanding the ticketing system, a kitchen rebelling against the sound of an oncoming ticket for a 12 top…

…Who is in a party of 12 on Valentine’s Day?

Well it worked out — eventually — and we had shiny new piece of technology to manage operations, track sales and build character.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

If I knew then how much more intense all the technologies would become that support our industry, I would have surely moved to Silicon Valley and set up shop there. Oh well, I can’t go back so I must move forward.

Moving forward

And that really is the inspiration for this series on technology — how to move forward. I understand that for many email is still a breakthrough, but time isn’t waiting for us to acquiesce to its determined march forward. In this restaurant technology series, we touch four relevant topics that demand your attention if you are going to succeed with the brave new world of tech in restaurants.

Our Order Up! infographic maps out plenty of subject matter that we dig in with this series. We start off with going over the basics of creating a successful digital strategy, so your prospective diners can find you and enjoy your establishment.

After that, we move onto a survey of four technologies that merit your immediate attention. Mobile payments alone will account for $85 billion in transactions in 2016 and many of them in will be happening in our industry. The new and emerging technology we talk about in this story will be something every restaurant and bar will want to consider looking into.

From there we find out if your restaurant is primed for mobile consumption. More and more diners are using their phones to find places to eat, but if you’re not mobile optimized you could be losing out on some major business.

Lastly, we look at restaurant cybersecurity. It’s something you don’t likely think about as an operator, but you are exposed and we offer you a fairly simply strategy to start protecting yourself.

We won’t promise you will feel better, but you WILL be better informed.

These are all fairly short reads and you can view them on our site together or separately as they appear. Either way we look forward to convincing you that there is so much more for you to do before you sleep.

About the author

Andrew Jaffee

Andrew is an accomplished and respected restaurant industry professional with over 26 years of experience focusing on many aspects of small business management ranging from human resources to marketing - operations to accounting. Prior to The Rail Media, Andrew managed and owned a variety of concepts from quick service to fine dining and spent the first 20 years of his career as a restaurant operator.